This case study mapped patterns of disproportionality in Advanced Placement (AP) access, enrollment, and completion for systemically excluded students through secondary data analysis of the Civil Rights Data Collection (2015-6), and documents the degree of segregation within two diverse school districts. Although there was relatively robust…

This article's authors use student transcript data to identify differences in the study of economics among Black students at HBCUs and PWIs. The data show that a higher fraction of Black students at HBCUs initially intend to study economics, relative to those at PWIs (4.0% vs. 1.3% of micro principles enrollees) and persist in the major (9.4% vs.…

The problem underpinning this study was a pronounced achievement gap between Black and White students, evident in standardized test score pass rates of third through fifth graders, in a school district in the U.S. state of Virginia. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the extent to which culturally responsive instructional…

Research examining reading abilities among Black children diverges significantly from prior literature, which either lacked focus or lacked substantial representation of Black children. Black students, particularly boys, tend to exhibit lower academic achievement compared to their peers. The problem addressed in this study is that Black boys, in…

This action research study examines the use of professional development to build the self-efficacy of secondary math teachers in culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT), with the hope to address achievement gaps of Black and Hispanic students. Seven math teachers from a school division in Southwest Virginia participated in a 9-week…

This research investigates whether teachers' unions influence student academic achievement in Southern states that prohibit collective bargaining. Our data are from the School and Staffing Survey and the Stanford Education Data Archive. We measure the strength of teachers' unions by union membership rate and meet-and-confer status of a district…

Objective: Psychometric properties of the Family Resilience Assessment Scale and its utility for use with African American college students were examined. Participants: Subjects were 440 university students (M age = 21.65, SD = 6.17) who were enrolled during the 2018-2019 academic year and recruited during the fall and spring semesters. Methods: A…

Funding for community colleges varies significantly, even within the same state. Several factors account for these differences, including more generous funding for smaller institutions to compensate for their higher costs per student, unequal local funding from property tax revenues, and political forces. In theory, this variation could lead to…

This study examined how personal, behavioral and environmental factors influenced educational outcomes of Black collegians at predominately white institutions in the south. Specifically, 11 institutions are represented in this study from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The purpose of this study…

Upper level high school math courses, those above Algebra 2, are associated with a host of benefits and positive outcomes for students who take them. Racial disparities in upper level math courses have persisted for decades despite nationwide efforts to improve them. Because of a lower prerequisite requirement, AP Statistics is the most accessible…

The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to identify if and to what extent average mathematics self-efficacy is different in college STEM female students in Virginia by ethnicity and academic level and whether ethnicity-academic level interaction has effect on mathematics self-efficacy. This study was guided by self-efficacy theory,…

America's public-school systems have a long history of disproportionately disciplining Black students. First identified in a groundbreaking study in 1975, the issue of over-disciplining our nation's Black students is negatively impacting their academic performance and economic opportunities. Students who receive exclusionary discipline, such as…

Background: The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) provides >30 million meals to children daily; however, the specific nutrient composition of NSLP-selected and consumed meals for students from lower income and racial/ethnic minoritized backgrounds is unknown. Aims: To quantify the nutrients in school lunch selection and consumption among…

This study utilized ordinal logistic regression to investigate the factors influencing the completion of dual enrollment courses among male participants in a Virginia high school program. The research aimed to address the significant underrepresentation of Black males in dual enrollment participation and credit attainment compared to their White…

The federal law, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which was enacted to provide funds to states to support special education programs and to ensure that children and parents rights are protected, has been reauthorized several times. Yet, despite the multiple amendments to improve the law, there remains a disproportionate representation…